One Wrong Step
by 88Keys
Summary: Tony and McGee must work together when one of them is badly injured while pursuing a suspect through the woods. Tim/Tony friendship. Rated K plus for a rather gruesome injury and mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

"One Wrong Step"

By 88Keys

Finished: 11/26/08

Shenandoah National Forest was beautiful this time of year. Red, gold, and orange leaves painted a brilliant canopy high above the forest floor. The air was crisp and cool and clean. The whole place seemed insulated from the outside world, and stood in silent contrast to the noisy city they had left two hours before. It would be a beautiful place for a long walk, with someone special.

Someone besides Tony.

"Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you….Away, you rolling river…." Tony sang, as he had been ever since they pulled into the park. They had been sent back to a crime scene they had investigated a couple of days before. A park ranger had discovered the body of a young man off the trail, noticed the dog tags, and called NCIS.

McGee gritted his teeth. Maybe conversation would keep Tony from singing. "What exactly are we looking for again?"

"Anything we missed the first time around," Tony replied. It had been almost dark and difficult to see the first time they visited the crime scene.

So far, no one had been able to figure out what the young Marine was doing in the forest. His commanding officer had confirmed that Corporal Brandon Taylor had been granted two days leave. He was due to return the day his body was found. He had apparently been killed by a single gunshot wound the day before.

"It could just be a hunting accident."

"Or it could have been murder. Or a sniper. We have to be open to all possibilities, Probie."

McGee rolled his eyes. _Like I didn't know that. _ He had merely been thinking out loud.

"Finding the bullet would be the best thing we could do. Gibbs said to expand the search radius this time, and to check the trails closest to where the body was found."

"Lots of people use those trails. It's going to be hard to figure out what's important and what's just trash."

"Pick it all up, and we'll sort it out later," Tony replied. "And make it quick."

"Why?" McGee asked. "You have plans tonight?"

Tony turned around and grinned. "It's Friday night, McGee. I always have plans."

McGee sighed and pushed ahead of him. _I'll be glad when this is over._

They walked in silence for a few moments. The camera around his neck was beginning to feel like a lead weight. McGee was desperately trying to think of something to say before Tony broke into song again. He turned around when he realized he heard the crunching of leaves behind him. Tony had left the trail.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Tony looked at him pointedly. "To the crime scene."

"It's farther up that way."

"It's to the right. I remember this twisted oak tree." Tony tapped his forehead. "My mind is like a steel trap, you know."

"_More like a sieve," _McGee thought. "That's not it, Tony. I know it's farther ahead."

"And just how do you know that?"

"Because," McGee explained, pointing towards a large tree several hundred feet down the trail, "I marked the tree."

Tony frowned. "Oh."

Just a bit further, and the yellow "X" McGee had wrapped around the tree with crime scene tape was clearly visible. Leaves crunched and swished softly beneath their feet as they left the trail and entered the heart of the forest.

The body had been found well off of the trail, where tourists and hikers were advised _not_ to go. Bears and mountain lions were common in this area of Virginia. The forest itself stretched out for miles, and it was very easy start walking in circles and get lost. It could take days to find one of the main trails again.

"Corporal Taylor would have had survival training," McGee thought out loud. "But he didn't have any camping or survival gear with him, except for his knife."

"Shhhh," Tony shushed him.

"What is it?" McGee asked, annoyed.

Just ahead of him, Tony had stopped walking. He held up a hand, motioning for McGee to do the same. "You hear that?"

McGee listened. Over the insistent chittering of squirrels and the chirping of birds, he could hear the definite sound of leaves crunching.

Something, or someone, was just ahead of them.

They hiked a few more yards, over a rise in the land, trying to make as little noise as possible. About fifteen yards ahead of them, they could make out the form of a man in a dark-colored jacket, walking around the place where the body had been discovered. He appeared to be looking for something.

Tony looked back at McGee, who nodded and placed his hand on his gun.

"NCIS," Tony had called in a friendly voice. "Can we ask you a few questions?"

The man whirled around. His eyes grew wide at the site of the agents, and he promptly turned and fled. Tony grabbed his gun and took off after the stranger, with McGee not far behind.

____

"Federal agent! Stop!" Tony shouted as they ran through the forest. "Don't you hate it when they run, Probie?"

McGee was too out of breath to respond. He focused instead on keeping the fleeing man in his sights while at the same trying not to run into any trees, shrubs, or low-hanging branches.

The camera was still around his neck, bouncing around off his chest and stomach. McGee pulled it over his head and dropped it. _Hopefully I can find it later_. Recent budget cuts meant the department would undoubtedly make him shell out for the camera himself if it were lost.

They plowed through the dense underbrush that grew here, off of the main paths. McGee felt briars tearing at his clothes and branches slapping his face, but he kept on. Tony was about 30 feet ahead of him. The running man was even farther ahead. He wound in and out, around trees and fallen logs, trying to lose them. Tony ducked around a tree and for a moment, McGee was confused. His teammate and the fugitive both seemed to disappear, swallowed up by the forest.

Suddenly, the late afternoon quiet of the forest was shattered by the sound of gunfire. The fugitive had apparently remembered he had a weapon. McGee saw Tony duck back, behind a tree, and return fire of his own. McGee drew his weapon, but he had lost them again.

He kept running towards the sounds of crashing underbrush and Tony's shouts. His right foot landed on something that didn't feel like the ground. There was no time for McGee to process this before he heard a peculiar snap. Suddenly, his right foot was immobile and he was thrown face-first to the ground, landing so hard he saw stars.

Something was caught around his ankle. Before he could investigate, pain like he had never experienced shot up his leg. From the bottom of his foot to the tip of his head, agony raced through him. He heard a strange, guttural scream. It took him a moment to realize it was coming from his own mouth.

Ahead of him, Tony heard the scream and paused. _Probie_. He wavered, seeing the runner get farther away from him, then sighed and turned back around. _It better not be something stupid, like a snake._

The screams continued as Tony sprinted back, using them as an indicator of McGee's position. Deep inside, he was worried; he knew McGee wouldn't be screaming like that over a snake. No one screamed like that unless something was really, _really_ wrong.

He finally found him, lying face-down on the ground. McGee had stopped screaming, but was clenching his fists and breathing in short gasps. At first, Tony could see nothing wrong. Had he been shot? Surely that guy couldn't have hit him from so far away, and while running. Even Gibbs wasn't that good.

"McGee, what the hell is the mat- oh." Tony's eyes went wide as he finally found the damage.

The bottom of McGee's right pant leg was stained with small patches of blood that were growing larger by the second. Tony gingerly bent down for a closer look, almost afraid of what he might find.

"Oh, man, Timothy," he breathed, his eyes wide.

END CHAPTER ONE


	2. Chapter 2

Something had to be really wrong. Tony had used his full name. Tony never used his full name unless something was really, _really_ wrong.

Of course, the pain shooting through his leg and the sick feeling in his stomach were pretty good indicators as well.

"Tony," McGee managed to moan through his clenched teeth. "Wh-what is it?"

"It's some kind of animal trap," Tony replied tensely.

"A b-b-bear trap?" McGee guessed.

"Maybe. Or one for large cats," Tony replied, though in truth, he didn't know much about animal traps. The one he was currently looking at had jagged stainless steel teeth, each over an inch long. They had snapped down on McGee's ankle with spring-loaded force and now remained rooted into the skin, while blood leaked out around each puncture wound. Tony shuddered as he imagined what kind of damage the trap had undoubtedly done to McGee's leg bone.

"G-g-get it…off…" McGee gasped.

Tony hesitated. Wasn't there some rule about not removing objects when someone has been stabbed, because the bleeding might get worse? McGee's leg looked pretty bloody, but maybe removing the trap would set off even more bleeding. What if one of the teeth had pierced the femoral artery?

On the other hand, that thing had to be crushing the bone and nerves, doing God-knows how much damage to them. And he was obviously in extreme pain. Tony looked down at his teammate. McGee's face was white and sweaty, his eyes wet with tears. His breath was coming in short gasps.

The usually confident agent felt fear. _I don't know what to do._

"P-please…Tony…"

"Ok, McGee," Tony said gently. He couldn't let him stay in pain like that.

_I hope I'm doing the right thing_

He examined the trap, trying not to move it in the process. Two half-circle jaws of sharp teeth were clamped tightly together, with only McGee's leg keeping them slightly apart. The bottom of the trap had a small circle of metal that was apparently the mechanism that made it close. The trap was laid flat, then McGee came along and stepped in the middle of it, causing the teeth to slap shut. They had been running…McGee probably hadn't even seen it…

He could find no release mechanism anywhere on the trap. Apparently it had to be opened by prying the jaws apart. There was just enough room between the teeth to place his fingers. One of them brushed McGee's leg, and he moaned.

"Sorry," Tony mumbled. He pulled on the jaws. The trap separated a couple of inches, but he could feel it pulling back, trying to snap shut again. He pulled harder, but the spring-loaded trap was strong. His fingers were slipping… Self-preservation took over, and his hands jerked back, letting go of the jaws.

They snapped back onto McGee's already-damaged flesh. He shrieked in agony.

"I'm sorry! McGee, I'm sorry…" Tony stepped back and looked at his friend in concern. McGee took a few deep, shuddering breaths, then wretched, vomiting up the cheeseburger he had had for lunch a couple of hours earlier.

Tony walked up and knelt down by McGee's head. "Probie, I'm sorry… I need you to turn over on your side."

"Can't…" McGee wheezed. The smell and sight of his own vomit were making him want to wretch again. And fresh waves of pain were spreading from his ankle to his head, making him dizzy.

"You have to. The trap is too close to the ground this way. There's not enough room for me to pull it apart."

McGee shook his head stubbornly.

"Unless you want me to just leave it on there…"

McGee's eyes popped open wide.

"That's what I thought." Tony carefully slid his arms under McGee's chest. "I'm going to roll you over on your right side."

"No!' McGee gasped. "Left side. Can't…put weight on right…"

"You'll have to hold your leg up in the air while I pull the trap off. Either way, it's going to hurt."

McGee took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Just…hurry up."

Tony pulled carefully until McGee was mostly on his left side, albeit somewhat awkwardly. His damaged leg lay limp, but at least his foot was turned now.

Tony moved to the back and carefully removed McGee's shoe, to make it easier to slide the trap off. He gingerly took hold of the trap again. This time, he made sure his grip was tight and braced his feet. This time, he would not let go, even if it meant losing a finger.

"Ready, Probie?" McGee didn't answer, but Tony could see him tense. "One…two…"

He gripped hard and pulled. The trap slid open one inch, two, then three. He could feel it wanting to close again.

Painstakingly, Tony slid the trap down McGee's ankle and past his foot. He wanted to go faster, but knew that haste would make him more likely to bump McGee's foot and loose his grip on the trap. Slowly and carefully, the contraption made its way down, until at last, it was free.

Tony tossed the bloody trap away as he let go. It snapped shut loudly as it flew and landed a few feet away. He leaned back in relief.

"That better, Probie?" He helped McGee roll the rest of the way over onto his back, away from the vomit puddle.

McGee clenched his teeth. "Still hurts."

"I don't doubt it." Tony looked worriedly at McGee's injured leg. His fears had been correct. Removing the trap had started a wave of fresh bleeding, much worse than before. Blood was saturating the bottom of McGee's gray pants. A few stray drops dripped out onto the ground.

_Tourniquet? Or not? Aren't tourniquets supposed to be bad? They could restrict the flow of blood too much, which kills tissue… Hell, why can't I think? Why are my hands shaking so much? _

So much blood…

Tony quickly undid his belt and pulled it off. He carefully maneuvered it around McGee's leg.

"Now what…are you doing?"

"Tourniquet."

McGee winced. "It's…bleeding…bad…isn't it?"

"It won't be in a minute, Probie." _I hope._

Tony pulled the belt snug, but not so tight that it cut into the flesh. Almost immediately, the flow of blood lessened. Tony allowed himself to relax slightly. He pulled off his jacket and covered McGee's legs with it. They were silent for a moment, as McGee focused on breathing and Tony looked around anxiously.

_Now what?_

"T? It's me. I, um, I have a problem. A big one. I really need your help… Can you come out here right now? It's really important…I…I screwed up. Big time."

END CHAPTER TWO


	3. Chapter 3

What had been excruciating waves of fiery pain was gradually decreasing to a dull ache from ankle to waist. McGee looked up at the trees directly above him and tried to think about how pretty they were, how nice the fall weather was, why the suspect might have fired at them… anything besides the fact that an animal trap had nearly taken his foot off. And that they were stranded, for the moment.

_At least, I'm stranded._ Tony could leave if he wanted to. In fact, DiNozzo was rising to his feet right then and looking around.

"What are you doing?" McGee asked. The shakiness was gone from his voice, but he was aware that his voice was much softer than usual. Speaking at a normal level required too much precious energy.

"Trying to figure out which direction we came from, and where the truck is."

"Why?"

Tony looked down at him curiously. "So I can get back and call for help. Unless you want to go."

McGee shook his head. "Don't leave, Tony."

Tony came and stood next to McGee's head, then knelt down until he was closer to eye level. "You're hurt, Probie. Really, really bad. You're still bleeding a little, and you're probably going into shock. I can't call for help from here. No bars, remember?"

McGee felt fear rising inside him. "Don't leave me alone here, Tony. Not here…not…like this."

"McGee, I'll be back as quick as I can. Just lay still. You'll be fine."

"No!" he said with as much force as he could muster. "That guy, with the gun, he's still out there."

"You have a gun."

"But I'm in no position to use it." Visions of the armed man coming back to shoot him while he lay helplessly on the ground swirled around inside his head. Or a pack of wolves, or a bear, feasting on him when he couldn't get away. McGee could feel panic like a knot in his chest. The blood was pounding in his ears.

"Tony…" He was gasping again. "Don't leave. Stay with me. _Please."_

Tony hesitated. Logically, he knew he had to get help. And yet, he had never seen anyone look so helpless and terrified as McGee looked right now.

"I don't want to…die alone."

Tony stiffened. "I don't want to hear you say that again, Probie. You're _not going to die."_

McGee looked doubtful.

_Gotta get his mind on something else. Keep him talking._

"OK, McGee. I'll stay, for now. But you have to talk to me."

"Ab-bout what?"

"Anything."

McGee looked thoughtful. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"I…can't think of anything. Give me a topic."

"OK. Um…seen any good movies lately?"

McGee shook his head. "Watched on on Sci-Fi channel last night. It wasn't any good."

"They usually aren't." Tony desperately scanned a list of topics in his mind. Sports? Politics? Recent cases? Nothing seemed very important, in light of the grave situation they were in.

"How's your next book coming?"

"Writer's block," McGee mumbled.

"I thought you said you don't get writer's block."

"Well…I lied."

Another pause. Tony had never felt so tounge-tied.

"Why are you still working at NCIS?"

McGee looked confused. "Wh-what?"

The question had been on his mind for some time, but he hadn't wanted to pry. He definately hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. Still, it was out there now, in the open.

"Your book did so well. You're loaded now, McGee. Why are you still working a government job for fifty grand a year?"

McGee looked thoughtful. "Well…because I like this job. Love it. Want to help people. The writing was…" he trailed off.

"The writing was what?"

McGee sighed. "The writing thing was kind of a fluke. I wrote a book… to see if I could do it, basically. Then I thought…see if I could get it published. I didn't expect it to be a best-seller. And honestly…" McGee swallowed nervously.

"I don't know if I can do it again."

Tony patted him gently on the shoulder. "Sure you can, Probie. You've got some great material right here."

McGee chuckled a bit. "Not sure I…want to relive this. Even in print."

They trailed off into another awkward silence. McGee seemed slightly better, but he still spoke with breathy hesitations, as if he was trying to find the strength to form sentences.

"So… are you still seeing Katherine?"

"No," McGee sighed. "It didn't work out."

"Oh. Why not?"

"None of your business."

"OK then, I guess I'll head for the car."

McGee's eyes flew open. "No!"

"Then talk to me, Probie. What happened? I thought you two were doing well."

"We only went out a few times…it didn't work out."

"Why not?"

"Because…" McGee paused, then sighed. "Her dog didn't like me." He waited for the inevitable teasing.

"Her _dog_ didn't like you?! That's why she broke up with you?!"

McGee nodded.

"McGee, I hate to tell you this, but that sounds like a really lame excuse."

"No," McGee insisted, "he really didn't like me. I met him twice. Tried to bite me."

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing! I swear! She said dogs are good judges of character. Said she trusted him, and she was sorry, but she couldn't see me anymore."

Tony frowned. "She sounds like a nutcase."

McGee shrugged. "Not really…she's one of those animal-lover types. To the extreme."

Tony's brow furrowed. "What kind of dog was it?"

"Pekingese."

"Ugh." Tony wrinkled his nose. "Those things scare me."

McGee nodded. "Looked like a dust-mop."

"With a gremlin's face," Tony agreed. "You're better off, Probie."

McGee shrugged again. "I guess so."

"So…can I have her number?"

McGee's eyes widened. "Tony…"

"Kidding!" Tony held up his hands. "I'm kidding."

McGee looked at him suspiciously. Then, his face softened into a smile.

Tony had never been so relieved to see anyone relax a bit. McGee's voice was no longer shaky, and his color looked better. He rose to a standing position.

"I'm going to walk around and see if I can get cell phone reception anywhere. I won't let you out of my sight," he added quickly, seeing McGee's expression change.

Tony walked slowly in an ever-widening circle around the place where McGee lay. Leaves shuffled and crunched beneath his feet. He kept his eyes on his cell phone's screen. The bars never changed, but something on the ground caught his eye. A plastic zippered bag, full of white powder. Tony picked it up carefully, with his sleeve down over his had so as not to smudge any prints. He carried it in his free hand as he continued his journey, but no matter where he went, the display never changed. No bars appeared.

He even tried holding the cell phone high over his head, as if he could reach up towards the satellite and pull the signal down. It was a futile gesture, and he knew it. Frustrated, Tony threw the phone down. It bounced off of a tree root and split in two, the back cover flying off from the body of the phone.

Tony stared at the pieces for a moment. Slowly, he picked them up, then sprinted back to where his teammate lay.

"McGee!" Tony exclaimed breathlessly. "I have an idea."

McGee looked up and noticed the bag of powder in Tony's hand.

"Pain reliever?"

"Funny," Tony said, secretly relieved that McGee was still coherent enough to make a joke. "That's not what I had in mind, but it may be the reason that Taylor was way out here in the woods."

He knelt down to again examine McGee's leg. It was still bleeding, slowly but steadily. The flesh around the wound was torn and bruised. Tony mentally cursed himself for wasting so much time. They needed help, and fast.

The thought brought him back to his original idea. "McGee," he said, kneeling down by his friend's head and holding up the broken cell phone. "Is there any way we could pull the antenna out of this phone and put it in your phone to boost the signal?"

McGee's eyes flicked over the broken phone. Tony could see a spark of interest, even through the haze of pain. "Maybe. Or if we have a big piece of metal, we could use it for an antenna."

"You'll have to do it," Tony continued. "I don't know a circuit from an antenna, or anything else in that phone."

"You'll have to help me."

"Deal," Tony agreed. "So where do we start?"

McGee grunted and tried to rise up on his elbows. "You can start by helping me sit up."

Tony reached under McGee's armpits and hauled him into a sitting position. Although this was accomplished easily enough, they quickly realized that staying up would be much more difficult. McGee was in no position hold himself up. Even the effort of raising up had left his face white and sweaty with fresh pain.

"Help me…pull me over to that tree. I'll lean against it."

Tony hesitated. "McGee…"

"Just do it."

Fifteen feet felt like fifteen miles as they traversed the distance a few inches at a time. Tony pulled and McGee pushed as much as he could. His injured leg dragged behind him like a lead weight. When they finally reached the tree, he sagged with exhaustion.

Tony examined his leg. The movement had set off a fresh round of bleeding. Tony re-tightened the tourniquet as McGee rested, catching his breath.

"OK," he finally said, tired but determined. "I'm ready." He handed his phone to Tony. "Take the back off of this."

Tony complied and handed the phone back to McGee. "I'm going to find something to prop your leg up with, Probie."

McGee nodded, eyes intent on the circuitry inside his phone.

Tony didn't have to go far to find a piece of wood that looked big enough and sturdy enough to hold up McGee's leg. As he bent down to pick it up, something caught his eye, a few yards away. He approached it cautiously, then excitedly as the object came clearly into view.

_Yes! This may be the first lucky thing that's happened all day._

McGee stared at the inside of his phone for a long time. Circuits and wires and chips made sense to him. Usually. Computers and technology were things he felt comfortable dealing with. And cell phones were fairly simple machines, really, compared to the computers he was used to working with. Even so, he found that he had to concentrate harder than usual to make sense of what he was seeing. Moving over to the tree seemed to have awakened his injury. His leg was screaming at him, trying to distract him from the task at hand. And blood loss was making him feel weak and light-headed.

So intent was he that he didn't notice Tony's approach until he was standing next to him. "I found it, Probie!"

McGee jumped at the unexpected voice. "Found what?"

Tony grinned and held up his right hand. In it was the unmistakable black case that held one of their evidence kits.

"Found it back there. I know I dropped it when we were running. Thank God it landed close-by." Tony opened the familiar case. "There's got to be stuff we can use in here."

McGee nodded. "Get out the tweezers, and that small screwdriver, and anything metal you can find."

Tony pulled out the requested items and laid them next to McGee. "I'm going to prop your leg up. And try to bandage it."

The kit contained a few shop cloths that the investigators used to clean their hands, among other things. Tony propped up the injured leg, then bundled a few cloths together. He pressed them carefully against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding.

McGee groaned and nearly dropped the phone.

"Sorry, Probie," Tony apologized again.

"H-how does it look? No…never mind. Don't answer that."

Tony nodded. "Just focus on the task at hand, McGee. We're going to get out of here."

McGee tried to pull small wires of the antenna from the broken phone, but his hands were shaking too much. The phone and the tweezers fell to the ground. He sighed.

"I…I can't do it, Tony."

Tony moved up to sit beside him. "Yes you can, Tim. You can do it."

McGee shook his head and swallowed the lump rising in his throat. "My hands are shaking…and I can't…concentrate. Can't think."

Tony carefully picked up the phone. He looked McGee in the eye and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"We can do it, McGee. You be the brain, and I'll be the hands. Just tell me what to do."

END CHAPTER THREE


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, boss," Louis said for the fifth time. He had to almost jog to keep up with Terrence's swift pace. Leaves crunched and twigs snapped as they tramped through the forest.

"Quit saying that," Terrence growled, without looking at the college student. "And don't call me 'boss.'"

"Sorry, T," Louis said.

Terrance paused long enough to glare at him. Louis opened his mouth to apologize again, but quickly shut it.

"How could you be so stupid?" Terrance asked as they started moving again. "You shot someone who saw you selling, left the body behind, and _dropped the merchandise?_ You _never_ drop the merchandise, Louis."

"I know," Louis said miserably. "I panicked. I-I didn't know what to do."

"So you thought you could hide this from me?"

"No! I wasn't hiding… I just thought I could fix it myself. I came back here, to find the drugs-"

"Merchandise," Terrance corrected.

"Merchandise, and to try and cover the body, but the cops had already found it. I saw that yellow tape on a tree. When I went towards where I thought I might have dropped the bag, there were two feds there."

"And they chased you?"

"Yeah, but I got away. They stopped."

Terrence stopped moving. He turned around, slowly and deliberately, to face Louis.

"Why did they stop?"

Louis shrugged. "I don't know."

"Feds don't just stop chasing a suspect, for no reason. What happened?"

"I…well, I heard screaming…the one closest to me, he turned around and went back. I…I couldn't see his partner."

Terrence leaned in until his nose was mere centimeters from Louis's. "Are you telling me you _shot_ _a federal agent?_

Louis looked miserable. "I- I don't know. I don't think so… I just fired to scare them. I wasn't really aiming… I'm not a very good shot, really…"

Terrence didn't move. "Give me the gun."

"S-sure, T. I've got it right here." Louis quickly dug the small handgun out of his coat pocket and handed it to his boss.

He examined it closely. "Loaded and ready to fire," he said disgustedly. "You're lucky you didn't blow your foot off, carrying it around like that. I never should have given it to you in the first place."

"T, I'm sorry…"

"You're _sorry_?!" Enraged, Terrence grabbed Louis in a headlock and held him close against his chest, his arm cutting off the younger man's air supply. "Sorry doesn't cut it. You've cost me a lot of time, money, and effort today. You _will_ be making it up to me. Understood?"

"Yes," Louis whimpered. Terrence let him go, and the young man gasped for air.

"Now, come on. Are you sure you know where you're going? Can you at least manage to not get us lost?"

"Yeah, sure I can. I do lots of transactions out here." Louis pointed to a break in the trees ahead of them. "We just follow that main trail for a bit, then head into the woods by the big double oak tree. It's not very far from there."

"Stay behind me," Terrance commanded. "We've got to be careful. There's probably feds all over the place. If anyone asks, we're just out for a walk." He glanced at his sick-looking associate and reconsidered. "Actually, if anyone asks, you just keep quiet. Let me do the talking."

"There," McGee said breathlessly. "It's finished."

The phone Tony held in his hand bore little resemblance to a regular cell phone, at least, from the back. It was a strange mess of wires, metal, chips, and pieces of both of their watches.

"You think it will work?"

McGee glanced up at Tony apologetically. "I hope so."

Tony nodded. "I'm going to walk around and try to get a signal." McGee looked ahead, not really focused. Tony knew that the effort had worn him out. He was more tired and pale than ever. _This has to work._

Instead of walking in circles as he had before, Tony headed directly ahead of the tree McGee sat against. The land in that direction had a rise to it, and signals were usually clearer at the tops of hills. He walked slowly, keeping his eyes down. The phone was awkward to hold, with its mess of wires and metal pieces sticking out of the top. Tony had already brought up Gibbs' number, so that when bars appeared, all he had to do was push "send."

He walked for a long time. No bars appeared. Tony felt panic rising in him. McGee was fading fast; they had to get help quickly. He was about to give up when the screen flashed. Two bars appeared, then quickly dropped to one. One bar. Would it be enough?

Carefully, with shaking hands, Tony pushed "send."

Gibbs rubbed his temples in increasing frustration. Their case seemed to be stalling out, mainly because they couldn't figure out why their victim was at the crime scene in the first place. Tony and McGee were supposed to be looking for more evidence, but they weren't back yet and they hadn't called. So far, no one they had interviewed could figure out why Corporal Taylor would use his leave time to go to Shenandoah. The other marines said he usually went on leave to see his family or his girlfriend. There was no reason for him to be in the woods by himself.

"Yes, yes. Thank you. If you think of anything else, please give us a call." Ziva nodded in satisfaction and hung up the phone. "Gibbs! I think may have just gotten a break."

"We could use one. Who was that?"

"Amanda Jennings. She is Corporal Taylor's girlfriend. Or was… she said they broke up a few days ago."

"Yeah?"

Ziva nodded. "She said they were getting to serious, and she didn't want to settle down, especially since he will probably be deployed soon."

"How did he take it?"

"Not well. He was upset, crying."

"Violent?"

"No."

"Does she have any idea why he was in the woods three days ago?"

"Amanda said that Brandon loved the outdoors. He would go into the woods to think. He probably went there on a whim, after the break up, to clear his head."

Gibbs nodded. "That still doesn't tell us why someone would kill him."

"Could have been a hunting accident?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Unlikely. Abby confirmed that the bullets were from a handgun. Most people don't hunt with pistols."

"Maybe he overheard or saw something he shouldn't have. Wrong place, wrong time."

Gibbs looked thoughtful as his phone rang. He glanced at the I.D. "MCGEE."

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Boss? It's Tony?"

"Tony?" The voice on the line sounded faint and far away. "I can barely hear you."

"Listen. We need help. McGee hurt…stepped in some…trap. We need medical…get a chopper?"

"Tony, you're breaking up. Did you say McGee is hurt?"

At her desk, Ziva looked up in alarm. Gibbs motioned to her, and she immediately began tracing the call.

"He's in bad shape…gotta get to us…forest rangers?"

"Tony. Stay right where you are. We're tracing the call now. I'll call the park rangers and give them your location."

"…not going anywhere."

"How did McGee get hurt? What's wrong with him?"

"Caught..leg…trap. Looks really bad, boss."

Even over the bad connection, Gibbs could hear the concern and fear in his agent's voice. "Just stay on the line. We've almost got the trace."

"Boss, we…man at…scene….shooting…"

"Tony? You're still breaking up." Gibbs glanced at Ziva, who nodded. Tony tried to say something else, but Gibbs heard only pops and static across the line.

"Hang on, Tony. We've got your location. The rangers will be there right away, and Ziva and I will meet you at the hospital." Gibbs disconnected and turned to Ziva, who was already dialing the Shenandoah forest rangers main office on her phone.

"Make sure you tell them they need medical attention immediately. Some kind of leg injury. And make sure they're armed."

Ziva looked at him questioningly.

"I'm pretty sure DiNozzo said something about a man shooting at them. Tell them to be ready for anything. And as soon as you're done, let's roll.

He could hear Tony's footsteps gradually getting farther and farther away, until finally he was alone with the sounds of the forest. He'd never been much of an outdoors person, preferring to stay inside and read or mess with a computer. Still, there was a certain peacefulness that he had never really appreciated before. No traffic, no people, no ringing phones… he could see why people came here to think, and to relax.

_Maybe this won't be such a bad place to die._

He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. Deep down, he didn't have much hope of their crazy cell phone working. He barely remembered putting it together with Tony. If it didn't work, Tony would leave and hike back to the car to get help. He would be alone. Somehow, the thought was quite as frightening as it had been ninety minutes ago. In fact, he wasn't really sure what he had been so upset about. He really just wanted to sleep…to take a nice nap…

The air was getting cooler, but he hardly noticed. The pain in his leg had subsided again, and a drowsy calm was coming over him. Gradually, he became aware of footsteps to his right, getting closer and closer.

"Tony?" He mumbled softly. "Did it work? Did you get a hold of Gibbs?"

There was no answer, though the footsteps were right next to him now. McGee lazily turned his head.

Two men stood only feet from him. The closest one had a gun pointed directly at his head.

END CHAPTER FOUR


	5. Chapter 5

Here we are, at the final chapter! Thank you all for your lovely reviews. They mean a lot. -88Keys

* * *

"McGee!" Tony shouted as he rushed down the hill. He tried to slow himself, but the slope was too steep and the leaves too slippery. His feet lost traction and he half-ran, half-skidded to the bottom. When he finally regained his footing at the bottom, he was surprised to see two men standing over McGee, to his right. One of them had a gun pointed at the younger agent.

"Don't move," the man ordered DiNozzo. "Or I'll blow his head off."

Tony froze obediently and raised his hands. "I take it you're not the forest rangers."

"Hardly," the man snorted. "Slowly take out your weapon and toss it ahead of you on the ground. Don't try anything; I will shoot him."

"I don't doubt it." Tony carefully removed his weapon, resisting the urge to try and get off a shot. The guy was only a couple of feet from McGee. It was too risky. He tossed the gun in front of him.

"Go pick it up, Louis," Terrance commanded. The younger man stepped out from behind his boss and went to retrieve the gun. Tony could see the scared, hesitant look on his face. Whoever this Louis was, he clearly didn't want to be there.

"Now," Terrance said to Tony as Louis returned with the gun, "come over here and stand by your partner. A couple of feet away. Keep your hands up."

As he approached, Tony looked questioningly at McGee. The younger agent was watching him, obviously in pain, but alert. Tony raised his eyebrows and motioned slightly to the left, with his head. McGee nodded discretely.

"You're the one who killed Corporal Taylor," Tony accused as he settled into place. Maybe if he could stall these guys long enough, the rangers would show up.

"Who?"

"Corporal Brandon Taylor. The Marine you shot and left here in the woods. What was he, a customer of yours?"

"I didn't kill nobody," Terrance sneered. "Yet." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "He's the one who shot your Marine."

"I didn't mean to," Louis stammered.

"Whether you meant to or not, he's still dead," Tony responded coldly. Out of the corner of his eye, he was aware of McGee's left hand, slowly inching towards his Sig.

"You will be too, in a minute," Terrance said. He motioned to Tony with the gun. "Turn around and get down on your knees."

Tony moved slowly, turning all the way around and bending his knees. _Come on, McGee…he's distracted…_

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The shots seemed to explode through the late afternoon quiet of the forest. Tony glanced at his torso, making sure everything was still intact. He turned quickly and saw Terrance laying on the ground, eyes open but not seeing. Blood poured from three wounds to his chest.

McGee quickly swung his gun towards Louis, who was still holding Tony's gun. The young man dropped the gun, threw his hands up in the air, and burst into tears.

"Please! Please don't shoot me! I didn't mean for any of this to happen!" His voice trailed off into hysterical sobs.

Tony sighed and picked up the gun in exasperation. "Nice shooting, McGee," he said as he slapped a pair of handcuffs on the sobbing suspect. "Though really, anyone should be able to hit from that close." He waited for a response and heard none. "McGee?"

Still no answer.

"Lay down on the ground and don't move," he commanded. Louis quickly obliged. Tony turned back to his teammate and knelt beside him. McGee's eyes were closed, his breathing, shallow.

"Come on, McGee…don't give up now." He gently shook McGee's shoulders and lightly slapped his cheek.

Nothing.

Tony took a deep breath, then slapped the back of McGee's head. "Probie!" he barked, in his best Gibbs imitation.

McGee opened his eyes and looked to the side. "Geez, Tony…I heard you the first time…just didn't feel like talking." He glanced at Terrance, lying dead a few feet away.

"May have been an easy shot…but it saved your butt."

Tony sighed in relief.

"The phone worked. The forest rangers are coming… You're going to make it, Tim.

* * *

Eight weeks later

McGee looked up at the NCIS building with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. It was the first time he had been back since that awful day in the forest.

His leg was still healing, and would be for a long, long time. It was possible that he would always walk with a slight limp. He didn't know yet, because he wasn't able to walk again. At least not for more than a few minutes at a time.

Most of the time, he had to rely on a wheelchair to get around. His leg was still in a heavy cast. Inside, along the bone, were steel pins and screws, holding it together. The damage was bad, but not as bad as it could have been. The bone had broken in two places, but the breaks were clean, with only minor splintering. An immediate surgery had been done to set the bone.

"You're a lucky man, Agent McGee," the doctor had commented as he wheeled his patient to the recovery room. "The surgery went very well.

Staring down at his damaged limb, feeling the pain gradually increase as the anesthesia wore off, McGee didn't feel so lucky.

A few days later, he lied in the hospital bed, feverish and in pain, his body burning with infection. It was almost too much to hope that there wouldn't be any, as long as he had been in the woods and on the ground. The trap itself had undoubtedly been dirty as well. An antibiotic regimen was started immediately.

He was in the hospital for two long, restless weeks. All of his co-workers and family members came by, but it was Tony who was the most dedicated. It was Tony who, after he was discharged, came by his apartment to check on him almost daily. It was Tony who helped pull him out of the depressed funk he settled into after a week of moping around his apartment.

"Why was that stupid trap there anyway? I thought those things were illegal in state parks."

"They are," Tony had explained patiently. "The rangers staked out the spot and caught the guy who was trying to poach bears and cougars with them."

McGee had frowned. "If I had only been a little farther to the left, Tony, this wouldn't have happened."

"Yeah," Tony had agreed. "And if Corporal Taylor hadn't gone to the woods that day, he would still be alive. And if I hadn't walked away to make that call just a few moments before those drug dealers showed up, they might have caught us both by surprise." He had strolled over to his teammate and given him a swift sharp head-slap. "You know better than to dwell on things like that McGee. That kind of thinking will get you nowhere. You gotta go from where you are right now."

It was Tony who left work early to come and drive his teammate to physical therapy sessions a few weeks later. And it was Tony who had driven forty minutes out of his way to pick McGee up and take him to NCIS today.

He would be on desk duty, of course, probably for a long time. He wasn't really supposed to come back at all yet, but McGee was going crazy with boredom. He could work on reports, fix computers, help Abby in her lab…anything would be better than being cooped up in his apartment.

Autumn had came and went while McGee was still in the hospital. Now the weather was gray and chilly. Tony pushed him carefully up the sidewalk around the side of the building, where the wheelchair entrance was.

"You sure you want to do this, Probie?"

"Oh, I'm sure. Believe me. Are you sure you want to?"

"Want to what?"

McGee swallowed hard, trying to find the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind for weeks now. "You've been awfully nice to me lately, Tony."

"Me? I'm always nice."

"Not like this. Tony… you saved my life, in the woods. I never thanked you for that."

"I saved you, you saved me. We're even, Probie."

"So why all this. I mean, you don't have to-"

"I know I don't have to, McGee." Tony pressed a button, and the door swung open slowly. "Enough jabbering. Gibbs isn't going to buy the wheelchair excuse if you're late."

As the elevator doors opened, the NCIS squad room seemed to spread out before him. It was a welcome sight; familiar orange walls, cluttered desks, busy agents. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure racing towards him. _Abby._

McGee grinned and braced himself for the impact.

_Maybe I'm luckier than I thought_.

THE END


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